A decade ago, shoppers who wanted to buy something from an online store had no choice but to browse to the retailer’s site on their desktop computer. Today, they are more likely to visit the store on their phone through a native application, a progressive web app, or a traditional server-rendered app. Or perhaps they prefer to buy from a store without ever leaving their social media network. Or they may shout to their smart speaker that they’ve run out of toothpaste and rely on it to relay the message to a retailer.
Today, it’s becoming obvious that shoppers expect to be able to shop using the interface that is most convenient to them.
Traditional eCommerce applications were designed to serve the needs of shoppers from the previous decade. The front-end interface was integrated with the back-end catalog management and shopping cart. Over the years, server-rendered front-ends have evolved to offer a better mobile experience, but eCommerce applications in which both the front and back-end are tightly integrated are difficult to adapt to the expectations of modern shoppers. Headless, or decoupled, eCommerce applications are the answer.
A headless ecommerce application unties the front-end interface from its back-end administration and management features. Decoupling allows retailers to take full advantage of the power of Magento, Drupal, or BigCommerce while freeing them to build independent interfaces that communicate with the server-side application via an API.
With headless ecommerce, developers can create multiple user experiences to meet the changing requirements of shoppers. They can take advantage of fast-evolving web technologies without having to delve into the legacy code of monolithic ecommerce application.
A further advantage of headless architecture is that the back-end and front-end can scale independently. The infrastructure supporting the user interface is not the same as the infrastructure supporting the back-end, a substantial advantage for ecommerce in particular given how resource-intensive large catalogs can be.
Consider BigCommerce for WordPress. BigCommerce is a commerce-as-a-service platform that provides catalog management, logistics support, payment processing, a shopping cart, and more. WordPress is a content management system that excels as the foundation of rich content-first websites. BigCommerce for WordPress allows WordPress to be used as the front-end for BigCommerce, combining the strengths of both platforms by allowing businesses familiar with WordPress to build stores based on a flexible and scalable back-end. The same BigCommerce store can be used as the back-end for multiple WordPress sites, mobile applications, in-store interfaces, and Internet of Things (IoT) retail experiences.
BigCommerce is not alone in anticipating the need for decoupled ecommerce. The same considerations influenced the introduction of both the WordPress and WooCommerce REST API. It is headless that motivated Magento’s API and its transformation into an innovative platform for progressive web applications. Drupal also provides a powerful API for decoupled interfaces.
The year of content has passed. That doesn’t mean it’s not still a priority, it just means that other areas are starting to require more attention. The adoption of omnichannel, the creation of unique and memorable purchasing experiences, and the creation and delivery of content in the best way possible.
This year’s IRCE saw all of these topics, and more, touched upon in informative sessions that provided merchants with actionable takeaways. From these sessions, we’ve collected the most insightful and useful learns of the year.
If you didn’t manage to attend this year’s IRCE but still want to know what was being talked about, and how ecommerce is evolving, keep reading.
Omnichannel Is Making Waves
Omnichannel is here and it’s here to stay. Not only has 2019 already seen an increase in the number of stores adopting new channels, it’s also seen a large number of them doing it successfully.
For many stores, executing an effective omnichannel strategy means finding and targeting customers in the best, most efficient way possible. To do this, retailers need to find customers where they are at each stage of their journey.
In a survey of 1,600 consumers, 29% said they browse items online before shopping in person. For brick and mortar shops, making the transition to ecommerce means making themselves present during both the awareness and decision stages of the buyer’s journey.
The importance of digital in omnichannel delivery is further supported by two takeaways from Gartner:
80% of buyers use digital information during each stage of their journey.
61% of buyers visit a supplier’s website at least once during their journey.
Hibbett Sports, a brick and mortar retailer that operates more than 1,000 stores, talked about how they managed to launch an online store smoothly by waiting until others had already done so. Two of their main takeaways included the importance of categories for allowing consumers easy access to products, and speeding up fulfilment to ensure the omnichannel journey still appeals to consumer immediacy needs.
Site Speed Is Important
A statistic thrown around this year was that a 3 second delay in page load time leads to a 53% loss in mobile visitors. Previously, we mentioned that a 1 second delay in page load can lead to a 7% reduction in conversions.
The importance of site speed is real and it’s only growing.
And it’s not just in terms of visitor numbers or conversions. Multiple SEO experts at IRCE talked about three SEO tactics that don’t require ad spend. They were almost always backlinks, content, and speed.
Experience ecommerce hosting optimized for site speed automatically. Learn more.
Not sure how to test site speed? Simple. There are three main tools that can help.
Google PageSpeed Insights
Google, Mobile-Friendly Test
Lighthouse (built into Chrome)
Each of these tools have their own testing parameters and can help site owners to optimize specific areas. We recommend getting started with Lighthouse.
Experience Is Everything
Susan Tynan of Framebridge said: “Don’t nickel and dime your way to an experience where the customer says ‘meh’.”
That was really the theme of this year’s IRCE. The customer experience is important: provide one that will make you and your brand stand out. Doing so won’t only lead to a clearer brand image, but also increase conversions.
For Digital Commerce 360, optimizing the purchasing experience was one of the easiest ways to do this. At the top of their list was simplifying the signup and checkout process, with an 88% increase in conversion rate, followed by providing better product information, with an 84% increase.
Other speakers also spoke about optimizing the purchasing experience, with each touching on the importance of efficiency and speed. Wrapped up in this experience is the fulfilment experience. As was discussed heavily during this year’s Meet Magento Australia, Shipping and Logistics are a top priority. For many ecommerce businesses, one of the biggest divides between businesses is their ability to deliver on customer expectations of immediacy.
As Andy Dunn of Bonobos said “It will be less about delivering inventory and more about delivering an experience”. That experience is one of immediacy.
And it’s not just the purchasing experience itself which is important. DevaCurl talked about how they have created a community of authentic brand representatives as opposed to transactional influencers. Together, they generate over 500 organic posts every day and contribute to the unique experience that they’re able to share with their customers.
B2B Ecommerce Is Big But Merchants Need to Improve
The US Census Bureau shows that between 2006 to 2016, the percentage of US manufacturing delivered through digital channels rose by 34%. That trend looks set to continue.
In one report provided by Paul Demery, 35% of manufacturers and 40% of distributors planned to increase ecommerce spending by 10-25% within the next year.
But while B2B ecommerce is a big market, a lot of suppliers are not providing the experiences their clients expect. In fact, one statistic from IRCE mentioned that 20% of B2B digital users dropped a supplier after having a poor website experience.
Part of the reason for this is omnichannel expectations held by clients. Gartner, in one of their surveys, talked about how 33% of B2B buyers would not make a purchase online unless they spoke with a sales rep.
Despite this discrepancy, many B2B businesses understand that it is present. One report even stated that streamlining the customer buying journey is top of the list in terms of priority for most B2B businesses. It will be interesting to see how businesses solve this problem in the coming months.
Content Is King
For years content has been praised as the most effective resource for ecommerce marketers, and been placed at the forefront of talks and presentations. For years, new channels, new metrics, and new guidelines have been published by marketers, business owners, and retail experts; all with the aim of providing a clear framework on how to implement a successful content marketing strategy.
This year, content didn’t find itself at front and center. Instead, it found itself circling almost every talk and every topic in brief mentions and clear references.
Talks on experience focused on providing consistent and clear messaging, with one statistic stating that 74% of customers are frustrated by irrelevant messaging. Talks on influencers discussed how authenticity was the most important attribute of content. Talks on businesses development talked about nailing your value proposition through your content, with guarantees of conversion increases.
Overall, the biggest takeaway from this year in terms of content was that its still big, it’s still important, and it’s still one of the most significant parts of any marketing strategy. However, it’s also different across different channels and for different brands.
It’s time for our monthly roundup! If you’re looking for the same great articles the rest of the year, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Enjoy and let us know if we missed anything important in the comment section. WordPress and WooCommerce Harness the power of blocks with WooCommerce Bookings Availability – WooCommerce Bookings Availability…
WordPress hosting is complex. Every WordPress site depends on a stack of software and hardware created by companies and communities with standards and values that are difficult to understand from the outside. This gives rise to misunderstandings and myths, especially where security is concerned.
In this article, we look at some of the most pernicious WordPress hosting myths, with a particular focus on myths that lead to security mistakes.
Small Sites Don’t Get Hacked
The media often reports on significant security breaches where the attacker’s goal seems obvious. The victims store gigabytes of personal data that can be used for identity theft. Many store credit card numbers, which are stolen for obvious reasons. Some attackers are engaged in industrial espionage.
None of that applies to smaller websites with a handful of user accounts: not much useful personal data there. They rarely store credit card numbers, wisely opting to use a payment processor. So why would a criminal invest the effort to hack a small site?
First, it isn’t much of an effort. Most hacking is automated: bots trawl the web for vulnerable sites, compromising them with pre-programmed attacks. The attacker sets his bots loose and waits for the IP addresses to come rolling in.
Second, even a small site is valuable. It has an audience, who can be infected with malware. It can be dragooned into the attacker’s botnet and used to compromise other sites or to take part in DDoS attacks. It can be used for SEO spam. Every website represents a package of bandwidth, storage, and processing power — all of which are useful to criminals.
If It Works, Why Upgrade?
People who don’t spend their lives staring at code on a screen are quite satisfied when technology does what it’s supposed to. They may feel that updates, which bring changes, are an unwelcome disruption. WordPress isn’t hard to learn, but it’s hard enough that the thought of change worries some of its millions of users.
People who use WordPress every day become accustomed to it. They prefer to avoid change for the sake of change, and so they are often reluctant to update. After all, why alter what works.
The developer’s answer to this is two-fold. Software never stands still and has to change to keep up with changes in the world. And, more importantly, updates fix bugs that cause security vulnerabilities. A site that has not been updated for a few months is almost certainly vulnerable. In the previous section, we talked about botnets and automated hacking. It is unpatched content management systems that those bots seek. Eventually, they will find an unpatched site, and it will be hacked.
I’d Know If There Was A Problem
What does a hacked website look like? For the most part, it looks like a website that hasn’t been hacked — especially to its owner. As we have discussed, bad actors breach a website because they want its data, resources, visitors, or SEO potential. If the site owner finds out they have been hacked, the bad actor loses access to those resources. So, they’re sneaky. They try to hide.
If you’re looking closely, you might notice spikes in bandwidth or memory use. If you regularly scan for malware, you might find their malicious code. But if you use the site normally, you’re unlikely to see anything is amiss.
Take SEO spam as an example. When a site is compromised, links to sites the attacker wants to promote are injected into its content. Those links are visible to Google, and they might be visible to ordinary visitors, but they are hidden from people logged in to the site.
That’s why it’s a good idea to regularly scan your site with a tool like Sucuri or Wordfence. They spot malicious code and let you know about it. If you don’t scan, then you are most likely to find out about an attack when Google starts warning your audience that your site is unsafe.
SSL Keeps Your Site Secure
SSL certificates have two jobs. They encrypt data traveling over the network from a server to a browser and back again. And they are used by browsers to verify that they are connected to the host they expect. That’s all SSL certificates do. They are an essential security and privacy tool, but they don’t protect data stored on the site’s server. Nor do they protect a site from attackers seeking to exploit vulnerabilities.
Every WordPress Plugin Is Free
This is a pernicious myth that causes people to download malware-infected plugins. Most WordPress plugins are open sourced under the GPL license. When the developer distributes the plugin, they also distribute the source code. They are required to do so by the license.
Often, open source software is free. It doesn’t cost any money to use. WordPress itself is open source and free. But some open source software is not free to use. Premium WordPress plugins are in this category: they are open source, but the developer expects users to pay a license fee to use the plugin.
When users pay the fee, they get the source code, as required. But open source doesn’t mean the developer has to give everyone the source code — just the people to whom the plugin is distributed, the people who have paid. This is commonly misunderstood. It is perfectly legal to take the code of a premium theme and give it away for free once you have paid for it, but this is discouraged in the WordPress community, for obvious reasons.
You might be wondering what this has to do with security. Bad actors know that people want to use premium plugins without paying for them. So, they take the plugin, add a sprinkling of malware, and give it away for free. These “nulled” or “pirate” plugins contain backdoors and other malicious code. When an unsuspecting WordPress user installs the nulled plugin, they give control of their site to an attacker. Installing pirate plugins on your site is a bad idea.
We’ve covered five common WordPress hosting myths in this post, and there are many more that we might have included. If you’d like to see a follow up post that dives into more WordPress hosting myths, let us know in the comments.
Joomla and Drupal are two competing Content Management Systems (CMS) that help site owners to build and manage their content. Both are well-established with large and committed communities, but the guiding philosophy of each is unique.
For Joomla, ease of use combines with added functionality to create a platform for beginners and intermediates. For Drupal, functionality reigns supreme, creating a place where site owners can create user experiences that dazzle and inspire.
Both are excellent content management systems, but there are differences that should be considered before a site owner commits to either. This article aims to look at these differences in detail.
Unsure if either Drupal or Joomla is right for you? Why not also compare two other popular content management systems? CraftCMS and WordPress.
Drupal and Joomla In Numbers
Taking a look at the number of live websites, Joomla comes out on top with over 1.5 million currently in use. Comparatively, Drupal has just over 500,000.
But don’t let this difference fool you. Just 0.8% of Joomla sites make it into the top 100k sites worldwide, compared with over 6% of Drupal sites. In actual numbers, that translates to Drupal having twice the number of Joomla sites present in the top 100k sites list.
As we’ll look at later, there are several reasons for this. In a chicken and egg situation, Drupal’s performance and functionality lead to a better user experience, but the fact that it offers so much developer control also means that it’s used by bigger companies.
Drupal Vs Joomla: Pros and Cons
Drupal Pros
Incredible control
Drupal affords site owners complete control of the user experience. Add additional functionality, create unique designs, and boost your SEO efforts.
A huge selection of available modules
Drupal has over 43,000 powerful modules available for site owners to tap into, offering additional functionality and control.
A very secure platform
Despite some notable problems in the past (see Drupal Security) Drupal is one of the most secure CMS available thanks to an incredible security team monitoring and fixing issues.
Drupal Cons
Complicated Development
Drupal isn’t the easiest platform available. Complex development procedures and knowledge of code are needed to get the most out of the platform.
Joomla Pros
Easy to use
Joomla is a great application for those who have some level of technical experience but aren’t able to fully manage technical coding tasks.
Lots of Extensions
There are over 7500 extensions. Nowhere near as many as Drupal, but still a lot.
Joomla Cons
Lacks some functionality
Joomla isn’t the best application for those looking for complete control over functionality. Unfortunately, you won’t find some features in a Joomla install.
No Official Template Directory
While templates and themes are available for Joomla, there is no official directory for them. This can make getting started tough.
The Comparison
Ease of Use
Joomla and Drupal are designed for different types of users. Joomla is built for users who need a little more flexibility. Drupal is built for developers and content management experts who need complete flexibility.
It’s because of this that Joomla is often used for blogs and small business sites, while Drupal is used to build custom websites for large organizations that depend on its highly configurable content management features.
If you’re new to building websites, Drupal can be tough to get started with. But if you’re a developer or a content management professional, you’ll love what Drupal can do for you.
Joomla isn’t as complex as Drupal but it’s also not as user-friendly or flexible as some of the other alternatives available. Whether that’s a good thing depends on what you want from your CMS.
The reason that Joomla is a little harder to navigate than some other content management systems is because it takes a more flexible approach. However, while Joomla is less complicated than Drupal, it’s also less flexible for users who host non-standard content and need complete freedom to build a custom content management framework.
Drupal
Joomla
– Lacks a sleek UI, focusing instead on functionality
+ Sleek UI
– Requires coding knowledge
+ Doesn’t require coding knowledge
– Customization options are huge
+ Customization options are large but not overbearing
+ Lots of flexibility
– Not as much flexibility
+ Easy search engine optimization (SEO)
+ Easy search engine optimization (SEO)
While Drupal does offer its users more, it does so at an expense to ease of use. For this reason, we’re giving this section to Joomla.
Functionality
Drupal is unbeatable in terms of functionality. Originally designed to offer content managers and site owners a platform capable of building the custom online experiences they wanted, it has remained true to that to this day.
Some of Drupal’s best features include:
Site performance and search engine optimization
Multilingual functionality
Content curation and management made easy with Frames
Decoupled implementation
eCommerce capability
Over 43,000 modules
Each of these features combine to make Drupal the functionality powerhouse that it is.
By comparison, Joomla lacks some of the functionality built into Drupal, and by doing so provides the ease of use mentioned above.
One of Joomla’s biggest disappointments is the lack of an official theme directory. While there are a number of Joomla themes and templates available for beginners, these are not offered through an officially monitored and maintained directory. For this reason, these themes can have implications with regard to site security.
Despite this, Joomla still includes some positive features, including:
Built in registration system for user management
Powerful site search
Multilingual support
Tags and categories
Over 7,500 official extensions
Despite a good effort by Joomla, Drupal wins in terms of functionality.
Security
Choosing a secure CMS is important. Not only does it prevent information leaks, it can also play an important part in how google treats a website.
Luckily, both Drupal and Joomla have been around long enough to provide secure, safe experiences for site owners and visitors.
While both platforms have experienced breaches in the past, they are both generally very secure. One of the reasons for this is that both CMS have teams of security experts monitoring and patching issues as soon as they come to light. They both also allow you to improve security yourself through built-in customizations.
That being said, with Drupal’s incredible developer community, there are some very powerful security modules available for the platform. This includes the Drupal Security Kit, which allows for the extension of built-in Drupal security features through the addition of CSP, HSTS, and more.
If you’re looking for the most secure platform, then Drupal wins here – but only by a fraction.
Performance
Increase search ranking, improve user experience, and get a grade of A+: all things you can achieve by focusing on site performance. So it’s no wonder that all CMS, not just Drupal and Joomla, compete in this area.
From the outset, Drupal has an advantage, primarily because it’s known to be a lightweight and easily scalable CMS. While Joomla offers some basic caching implementations and GZIP compression, Drupal’s huge selection of modules allow for even more customization.
When the two CMS are placed in similar operating conditions and with similar hardware, Drupal tends to perform better, being able to handle higher numbers of visitors before it begins to slow down.
That being said, regardless of what CMS you choose, it’s always important to run it on a powerful hosting foundation. At Hostdedi, we offer a range of optimizations that can improve site speed and scalability significantly.
Primarily, this includes unique caching rules, compression techniques, and a web application firewall that doesn’t get in the way of strong performance.
While hosting is an important part of the performance piece, we’re going to give this section to Drupal because of the performance gains it offers out of the box.
Support
Joomla and Drupal are both actively developed and frequently updated. Joomla typically sees minor releases every one to three months, with major releases every year. Joomla has millions of users, thousands of developers, and is likely to exist for many years to come.
Drupal has a fixed release cycle which its developers stick to for the most part. Major versions of Drupal are supported longer than most other content management systems, providing stability for business users. Drupal 8 was released in 2015 and will be supported through the end of 2021.
Joomla is the second most popular content management system on the web, and it has a large and vibrant community. There is a wide array of volunteer and professional support available. Its documentation is well-written and comprehensive. The Joomla forums are friendly, and you’re likely to find an answer to any question. In short, if you use Joomla, you’ll have plenty of help.
The Drupal Community also provides excellent documentation, user groups, and forums. As you would expect from a CMS that targets enterprise organizations and large-scale businesses, there are many Drupal developers, agencies, and service providers who provide professional services for Drupal users.
Cost
Joomla and Drupal are both free. You can download them today without paying a cent, but there are costs associated with any website, including web hosting, design, and development.
The cost of web hosting depends on the number of visitors the site receives. Take a look at our cloud hosting solutions for a good outline of what you can expect. It is possible to host both content management systems on inexpensive shared hosting, but that’s only viable for the smallest sites. If a site receives more than a handful of concurrent users or is expected to scale, managed shared hosting or cloud hosting is a better option in both cases.
A fully-functional Joomla site can be built without any additional costs. This includes adding free extensions from the official extension store, or free themes from unofficial sources.
Drupal expects its users to have the expertise to build a custom front-end. It includes a default theme, but it’s minimal and is expected to be used as an example or a foundation for a custom theme. There are free and premium Drupal themes, but most Drupal users build a bespoke theme, which requires a working knowledge of PHP, HTML, Javascript, and CSS. If you aren’t a developer, you will probably have to pay someone to design and develop your site for you.
Joomla vs. Drupal: Summary
Joomla is an excellent general-purpose content management with decent out-of-the-box flexibility. If you want more control over how content is categorized and displayed, you should consider Joomla.
However, if you’re looking for complete control, Drupal is more capable than Joomla and is ideal for large and complex content management scenarios faced by enterprise organizations.
A decade ago, shoppers who wanted to buy something from an online store had no choice but to browse to the retailer’s site on their desktop computer. Today, they are more likely to visit the store on their phone through a native application, a progressive web app, or a traditional server-rendered app. Or perhaps they prefer to buy from a store without ever leaving their social media network. Or they may shout to their smart speaker that they’ve run out of toothpaste and rely on it to relay the message to a retailer.
The year of content has passed. That doesn’t mean it’s not still a priority, it just means that other areas are starting to require more attention. The adoption of omnichannel, the creation of unique and memorable purchasing experiences, and the creation 
WordPress hosting is complex. Every WordPress site depends on a stack of software and hardware created by companies and communities with standards and values that are difficult to understand from the outside. This gives rise to misunderstandings and myths, especially where security is concerned.
Joomla and Drupal are two competing Content Management Systems (CMS) that help site owners to build and manage their content. Both are well-established with large and committed communities, but the guiding philosophy of each is unique. 
